Frustration was the name of the game at the Stadium of Light - and Crystal Palace played it to perfection.

Sunderland blew their chance to gatecrash the play-off picture as they had to settle for their first goalless draw of the season.

Normally, managers are never happy to see points dropped at home but Roy Keane pronounced himself pleased with the draw.

Not just pleased, but actually more so than when his side scored four goals at Hillsborough as they beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-2 in their previous match!

He said: "We kept a clean sheet and took a point. Credit to Crystal Palace, they made it very difficult for us and frustrated us.

"They came to frustrate and I suppose they will be happy with their night's work.

"It is a compliment to us teams come to the Stadium of Light and play with the extra man in midfield and just one up front for the whole 90 minutes.

"You are going to get challenges like that - it is up to us to break themdown.

"Last night we could not do that. We tried too hard, if anything.

"However, I am pleased with a point, I have to say. I am probably more pleased with this point than I was last week when we scored four and won away from home."

Keane was determined to look on the bright side and, thanks to the topsy-turvy world which is the Championship, the Wearsiders did make up for dropping one place in the table by taking a step closer to automatic promotion.

Results elsewhere meant that, while the Black Cats slipped to ninth, their draw actually cut the gap between themselves and second-placed Birmingham to six points.

That gap, though, should have been reduced still further.

Sunderland played Palace off the park in the first half, with Keane's men enjoying almost total domination. They failed, though, to translate that advantage into goals as Palace's 4-5-1 set-up frustrated them at every turn.

David Connolly did his best to unlock the Palace defence and his strikepartner Anthony Stokes tried almost too hard at times.

The breakthrough just would not come and in the second half the visitors came back strongly and made it a much more even contest.

Keane added: "It was a game where we needed to score early, but the longer the game went on at 0-0, Palace had something to hold on to.

"I am happy in terms of the effort and the commitment of the players.

"We claimed a clean sheets and a point, but we did not do quite enough in the attacking third to win the game."

Keane resisted the temptation to press new signings Stern John and Danny Simpson into action straight away - full-back Simpson was on the bench while striker John watched from the stands.

There was little Simpson could have done to help last night, but John's aerial presence might have made a difference as Sunderland tried to find a way through the well-drilled Palace rearguard.

At least Keane will have that new weapon to call upon in the final 16 games of the campaign.